Kindness

When I was a young man growing up here in Tucson, 2nd Saturday was called Downtown Saturday night. Confessionally, I haven't been down to a 2nd Saturday since we've moved back, but it sounds a little more grand than it was back in the day. 

It used to be that there were a few musical acts playing in the Ronstadt Center, people selling handmade crafts, and a few food vendors... And then, there were the Christians. The Christians always seemed, well, angry. Really angry. It seemed that there was always a shouting match breaking out between the Christians and some other group of pedestrians. 

I never engaged in these arguments and would avoid the Christians like the plague. They never seemed like people I would want to be around. 

On the other hand, about the time I met Sarah, I was working at a music store on the east side. One of the drum instructors was a guy named Carl. Carl was (and still is) a bit of a local legend. On that merit alone, I had nothing but respect for Carl. It felt an honor just to be able to hang out with this guy but Carl also built a friendship with me... And was a Christian. 

I shared openly my views (which were pretty atheistic at the time) with Carl on a regular basis and he and I would just talk life. He was never shy to share about Jesus with me but there was something in the way he communicated his point of view... I think it was that I still felt respected by him. Though I didn't believe the way Carl did, he showed me true, Biblical kindness. 

The word Paul uses for kindness in Galatians 5:22 (chrēstotēs) could be translated as integrity or even tolerance. 

I can see that Carl was showing me the kindness of Christ in our friendship. He never lost his temper with me over my points of view, no matter how offensive they may have been to him, and yet, he never compromised his beliefs with me.I would say that I was shown the love of Christ over and over again by Carl because he pursued our friendship despite our differences. 

I think this is exactly what Jesus consistently does this with us. His kindness is shown that while we were in our rebellion against Him, not on our way towards Him, He showed us  mercy and became our sacrifice for our rebellion. Even when we were moving away from Him, He pursued us. 

As we get together this weekend, I want to invite you to have this idea in mind. This is yet another reason why Jesus is worthy of us expressing love and gratitude to Him. 

If you'd like to prepare for worship this weekend, the songs we are going to be singing this weekend are:

This Beating Heart

What a Beautiful Name

One Thing Remains